some ?? about shade cloth

stormys_mom(Md 7a)August 10, 2012

I only have a small greenhouse. Its prob 5 ft tall and has 4 shelves. The kind you buy and assemble. I would like to put my rooting cuttings out there, matter of fact I did and thats how I lost my Lani to sunburn. So Im thinking a shade cloth would maybe work. Need your thoughts. I have an outlet to plug heat mat in there so thats a plus. I have them in a spare bdrm now with ac turned off in thst room. But I know as humid as it is here they would benefit by being outside. I dont need a huge one so was wondering if some sort of fabric by the yard would work???? need your info

I have a setup under my pergola that we affectionately call " the nursery". It's basically a spot that faces west that is covered with a medium grade shade cloth( you can buy precut lengths at Home Depot) they sell it in different "grades", light, medium and heavy shade.

All my cuttings that need to be rooted go in the nursery, with the cloth they get a nice filtered light all day with no scorching sun to burn them. My pots are sitting directly on the concrete so they have the benefit of warmth, fresh air movement and humidity.

This spot has worked well for me for several years and the best part, no burn!

I don't know if this helped but I think the shade cloth is a great idea.

I have looked at HD and Lowes. Here on the east coast its online order only. :( I was hoping someone would have some input on fabric. I have a Joanns fabric store here and they have all kinds. I guess it would need to be weatherproof without being really thick. Guess I will have to go and look. But thanks guys I appreciate your answers

Jackie, I was at the Lowes in Carson CA Friday and they had it at the garden center. I didn't look closely but the material was an open weave, heavy duty fabric, kind of like the stuff they use for fly masks or fly blankets for horses, if you've seen any of those. Kind of like heavy duty window screening or mosquito netting. I don't think they would have any of that at Joann's.

Thanks Delton your probably right. My neighbor suggested weed block the cheapie kind from walmart. I might go look at that. If its not expensive I wouldnt care about it being disposable. I may look at the horse blankets too its only a small greenhouse so that may work.